Page 12 of The Inn at Evergreen Hollow

Aiden put up his hands, shaking his head. “Oh, no. Not a chance. Besides, my food is going to be up any minute.” He looked at the counter and around the corner, hoping it would show up so he could go. This hadn’t exactly been in his plans for the day.

“Why not? It’s a great idea. If it fits you, no need to take it in. You could be our Rudolph this year.” Bethany thrust the costume at him, her face taking on an expression that he knew all too well. Once she got what she thought was a good idea in her head, it was hard to pry it out.

“Really, I’d rather not.”The food, any minute now.“Besides, you need me out of costume at the festival, just in case something breaks. Your repairman has to be on call.”

“Or, you could relax and have fun.” Bethany shook the costume at him again. “At least try it on so I can see how it looks. Maybe I’ll talk Leon into it if it’s good.”

“Fine.” Aiden let out a long sigh. “I’ll try it on.”

He was glad the restaurant was all but empty. Getting the suit on was no easy task. He tried it with his work boots on first, only to find he couldn’t get his feet through, and had to disentangle himself long enough to take them off and try again. The food still hadn’t come out, so there was no wiggling his way out of what he’d already agreed to, and Bethany had a delighted expression on her face that suggested this was making her whole day.

Finally, he managed to get the ridiculous thing on. “How do I look?” he asked resignedly, the answer already apparent from the sparkle in Bethany’s eyes. Probably notgood, but definitely hilarious.

“Perfect.” She clapped her hands. “Now I just need you to agree to wear it at the festival!”

The bell over the door chimed again, and as he saw who walked in, Aiden felt his face flush red.

He’d talked himself out of thinking that he’d seen Nora on the porch of The Mistletoe Inn on his drive home. She hadn’t been back for more than a decade; there was no reason to think she’d suddenly show up now. But here she was, in the flesh, walking into the grill with her friend Melanie at her side.

He quickly turned away, hurriedly trying to remove the suit without tripping over himself. His face was still flaming, and he wondered why—it shouldn’t really matter to him if she saw him in the costume, no matter how ridiculous it was.

It felt like being back in high school all over again. As if he were once again standing just outside of her view and trying to get her attention by being “cool,” or fretting over whether or not what he was doing was too “uncool” to make her notice him. It was an even more ridiculous feeling than the costume itself.

He was a grown man now, he told himself firmly, as he wrestled out of the reindeer costume. He shouldn’t care about that—shouldn’t even have the thought cross his mind. But just one glimpse of Nora, in that soft-looking hazelnut-colored sweater and dark jeans, brought back the feelings of that old crush as if they’d never left.

Jonathan, the owner and head chef at the grill, stepped up to the window just in time. “Here’s your order, Aiden,” he said, passing a bag across the counter to him. “Yours’ll be up in just a minute, Bethany.”

“Thanks,” she said sweetly, taking the costume from Aiden as he handed it over. “No rush.”

Aiden shoved his feet back into his work boots, glancing over at Nora and Melanie as they sat down in one of the booths. Nora had her back to him, and the two women were deep inconversation. Deep enough that Nora didn’t even seem to notice that his name had been called.

Not that it would matter,he thought to himself, taking the bag and turning to go.

Even if she’d heard his name, it probably wouldn’t ring a bell for her. They’d run in different circles in high school, and if she had ever noticed him enough to know his name back then, she certainly wouldn’t remember it. It’d been too long.

He didn’t like that he wished itwouldring a bell.

Jonathan chuckled as Aiden took his order.

“You wear the reindeer look well,” he said offhandedly, a slight smile on his face as he turned away to go back to the kitchen. Aiden laughed, more out of embarrassment than anything else. He was glad Nora hadn’t seemed to see him trying on the ridiculous thing in the middle of the restaurant.

Nora and Melanie had tucked themselves into a booth on the far side of the restaurant, and he ducked his head as he walked toward the door, trying to stay out of her line of sight. He wanted to get out of there before she had a chance to say anything—he wasn’t sure which would be worse, her remembering him and him having to act like it didn’t matter one way or another, or her introducing herself as if they’d never met.

He definitely didn’t want to find out.

Aiden strode back out to his truck, lunch in hand, thinking that he’d eat at the construction site and then finish his work for the day. After that, he thought he might go for a hike. The snow was thick enough to make for a nice trek through the woods, and he didn’t want to risk seeing Nora again around town.

She made him feel odd, off-balance, like a moony teenager whenever he caught sight of her. It made him want to give her as wide a berth as possible.

Which was as silly as the feelings themselves, because Evergreen Hollow was a small place. Small enough that theywere guaranteed to cross paths again before too long, regardless of whether or not he went out of his way to avoid it. But he could at least give himself a little time to come around to the idea of her being back in town.

Enough time that he could hopefully keep his cool, the next time he saw her.

CHAPTER SEVEN

It only took a couple of days after getting back to Evergreen Hollow for Nora to remember just how little there was to do in town. She’d stopped in at the grocery store and The Mellow Mug and the bookstore over the last few days, making the rounds as she tried not to be bored already, and all anyone could talk about was the festival. The ladies ahead of her in the grocery checkout line, a couple of girls looking through romance novels at the bookshop—even every single customer that stopped in at the Mug while Nora was having her coffee talked about it. She thought, wryly, that it was the most exciting thing in town. One event, once a year, and the whole place orbited around it.

She’d planned to go to the grocery store to pick up a few more things for her mother—Rhonda still wouldn’t let her do much to help out around the inn, but she could at least do that—and figured she would make a stop at Sugar Maple general store to see about grabbing a scarf. There wasn’t anything in the way of actual clothing stores in town, and the general store was her best bet. She’d forgotten how chilly it could get, walking around everywhere. In Boston she would have taken her car, but she didn’t have any means of transportation staying in Evergreen Hollow. The only option would have been her dad’s old truck,and there wasn’t a chance she could drive that. For one thing, she’d long forgotten how to drive a stick shift, and even if she could remember, she didn’t trust it in the snow.

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